Tech documentation (Re: Perl Apprenticeship Program)

Steve Fink wrote:
> 
> David Grove wrote:
> 
> > Also, as far as documentation goes, I think it _should_ be written by
> > apprentices, so that non-masters can understand it too.
> 
> Except it's a particular duty that nobody really likes to perform.

One thing that might be really cool is if there was a way to get some
tech documentation apprentices on-board just to specialize in perldocs.
For example, people out of school interested in tech documentation but
needing something to put on the resume. "Documented Perl 6 Internals"
might be enough of an incentive for said people to want to volunteer.

Our group of sysadmins recently hired a tech documenter just to do
internal docs - system configs, network layouts, protocols and
procedures, etc, etc, and it's been a big win. Most tech people don't
like documentation, and so do a crappy job at it. Plus, often times they
don't have the command of the language that true doc people do, leading
to hard-to-read docs with errors or omissions. Good tech documentation
people can often do a better job at explaining stuff than the people
that actually wrote it. Most all commercial software projects I know of
utilize docs people for this reason.

Anyways, that's just one suggestion. Do I have any idea where to find
these mythical people? No, unfortunately. Perhaps some feelers on
newsgroups might be a good place to start. Personal experience shows
that this could be a win, though.

-Nate